"Solving The Girl Problem" (15)

It’s been a few weeks since the article, “Solving The Girl Problem” was published in the Standard, our school newspaper. At first it caused quite the uproar, from both males and females. After a few days’ things seemed to clam down, until today during our class meeting a panel of six seniors, mixed gender, gathered to discuss the issues of the article and also answer any questions anyone had. The author of the article, was also on the panel, began the meeting by clarifying some things that he did not mean to sound they way they did, but also standing behind some of the things that he did. From that moment on the recent prom stories did not seem to matter, this was the topic of the day.

It was interesting to hear what people all over the school thought about the meeting and the article. I had the pleasure of sitting with Ms. Talley, my Women’s Literature teacher, and a small group of other girls in my grade during lunch, and we had the chance to discuss our thoughts. I am the type to sit back and listen to other’s points, but this is one thing that really frustrates me when it comes to this article. In the conclusion of the article the author says, “girls need to stop thinking of themselves as objects of desire, and start taking themselves seriously.”

We think of ourselves as objects of desire, because men view us as objects of desire. Do you think that I, or any other woman willingly wants to stress about how they look every second of every day? Yes there is also the point that you don’t have to care, but we are human, and we look for admiration. This whole “viewing ourselves of objects of desire” idea is not a one-way thing. I’ve been with my guy friends when I hear what they say about girl. Things like, “She gained so much weight in college” and “Why does he like her? She is so ugly.” Well guys, we have ears. We hear a lot more than you think we do. No one wants to be on the other side of those comments, so we bend over backwards not to be. So next time someone wants to place blame on a woman for thinking of herself as an, “object of desire” beware of the things that you might be saying to make her feel that way.

Another thing I would like to add is something that one of my close friends said today. She was talking about the meeting and said something that I found very interesting and something that I agree with 100%. She said, “I wake up every morning and put on nice clothes and wear make up because I want too. It makes me feel confident, so then I go into school with confidence, which then allows me to go through my day confident. I do it for myself.” I completely agree and I think that if you talked to most of the girls in our school they feel the same way.